"So, what is this mission that is so high stakes we're told to sit it out?"
Victoria's voice drifted lazily across the room.
She didn't even look up. Instead, she nudged a pawn forward with one finger, the piece clicking softly against the chessboard between her and Mr. Bao.
Across from her, Mr. Bao cleared his throat.
He studied the board for a moment before picking up his knight.
"There is this phenomenon now referred to as the Joker."
He paused.
Not the pause of someone searching for words.
The pause of someone deciding how much to reveal.
Victoria noticed immediately.
"Why Jokers?"
One of her legs bounced beneath the table as she waited.
Mr. Bao finally placed the knight.
"Because humans are stupid and the punchline."
The piece settled onto its square.
Silence followed.
I blinked.
Then looked toward Qiang.
"Any idea what he's talking about?"
Qiang shook his head.
Not even a little.
My irritation sharpened slightly.
Which was becoming increasingly frustrating.
Ever since we had been collected from the hotel that morning, we had done little besides sit in this room. We had been introduced. Tea had been served. Food had appeared.
And somehow we still knew almost nothing about the contents of the letter we had crossed an ocean to deliver.
Victoria leaned back slightly.
"Hmm. So the Jokers are humanity's fault somehow."
"Absolutely."
Mr. Bao nodded.
"One of the first well-documented occurrences happened a very long time ago. It went by the name Schwarzer Narr."
His fingers lingered on a rook.
"Let's just say it was ruinous."
The rook moved.
"Check."
Victoria frowned at the board.
"So has that person returned?"
I straightened slightly.
Finally.
An important question.
Mr. Bao opened his mouth.
Before he could answer, Miss Noi spoke from behind her typewriter.
The metallic clacking stopped.
"Not him exactly, Miss Ai."
I turned toward her.
The typewriter sat on a desk surrounded by stacks of paper. Half-finished pages were piled beside a cup of tea that had long since gone cold.
"Then who is it?" I asked.
Victoria appeared far more interested in the chessboard than the conversation.
Miss Noi adjusted her glasses.
A smile appeared.
The kind people wore when they knew something you didn't.
I didn't like that smile.
"First," she said, "worrying solves nothing. You should relax."
Her gaze drifted toward Victoria.
Victoria was staring at the board with suspicious concentration.
The more I watched her, the more convinced I became that every question she asked existed solely to distract people while she planned her next move.
Miss Noi fed another sheet into the typewriter.
"This one's name is Ombre Fureur."
The unfamiliar name settled heavily in the room.
"According to records, its fuel is grudges. Revenge. Vendettas."
The paper aligned with a soft rustle.
"Escalating conflicts."
The room seemed colder somehow.
Or maybe I just thought it was.
I glanced toward Qiang.
Some kind of spirit?
A demon?
An entity?
He appeared to be thinking the same thing.
Leaning slightly closer, he lowered his voice.
"There were things like that mentioned in the library."
I looked back toward Miss Noi.
"What exactly are the Jokers?"
The answer never came.
"Checkmate."
Victoria stood abruptly.
Her chair scraped backward.
"I win."
The declaration echoed through the room.
I stared.
Then looked at the board.
Then back at her.
She was laughing.
Actually laughing.
As though the discussion wasn't about an unknown threat fueled by hatred and conflict.
As though we weren't currently involved in whatever mission had brought us here.
Something inside me tightened.
Then snapped.
"Uncultured foreigner."
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
The room immediately fell silent.
The kind of silence where everyone hears everything.
I knew it the moment the words left my mouth.
Too late.
Victoria turned toward me.
Her smile hadn't disappeared.
If anything, it widened.
For some reason, that only made me angrier.
"Miss, you lack manners."
I stood.
"Can you not see we are in a crisis?"
The irritation that had been building all day finally found somewhere to go.
The waiting.
The secrecy.
The half-answers.
And somehow this woman had spent most of it playing chess.
Victoria stared at me.
Then—
"Ha."
A small laugh escaped her.
What was so amusing?
"What is so funny?"
I crossed the room.
The distance vanished quickly.
I was halfway prepared to punch her.
Qiang immediately caught my arm.
"Miss Ai."
His grip tightened.
"I apologize for Ai's outburst. She is reasonably worried."
He bowed slightly.
I remained very upset.
Victoria tilted her head.
Then spoke.
"I challenge you to a duel."
Qiang froze.
I froze.
Even Mr. Bao looked up.
"That is rather unreasonable, Miss Victoria," Qiang said carefully.
"Ai is a cultivator."
He glanced toward Mr. Bao.
Then toward Miss Noi.
Neither offered assistance.
In fact, both suddenly seemed fascinated by anything except the conversation.
That should have told me something.
It didn't.
"I accept."
The words left my mouth before common sense could intervene.
Frankly, I was tired.
We had spent hours sitting.
Reading.
Eating.
Waiting.
Listening to answers that explained almost nothing.
Meanwhile, Victoria had spent most of the day playing chess.
So yes.
I accepted.
...
Flicker Step.
The technique activated instantly.
The world blurred.
Distance collapsed.
The ground vanished beneath my feet.
One moment Victoria stood several meters away.
The next—
CLANG.
The impact exploded through my arms.
Vibration surged up the blade.
My feet dug into the frozen earth.
Victoria flinched.
Slightly.
Nothing more.
She hadn't moved.
Hadn't attacked.
Hadn't even looked surprised.
I blinked.
A cold knot formed in my stomach.
"What—"
"Okay."
Miss Noi raised a hand.
"We can agree Victoria wins."
I turned.
"What?"
"And you should apologize."
Qiang nodded.
So did Mr. Bao.
I looked from one face to another.
No one seemed confused except me.
That bothered me immediately.
Everyone had seen something.
Everyone except me.
...
"Why was the fight decided when we barely did anything?"
Qiang folded his hands.
For a moment he simply watched the others.
The campfire crackled to life.
Smoke drifted upward into the cold afternoon air.
"You didn't see it."
I frowned.
"See what?"
"There were knives."
He pointed.
"Several."
The words settled slowly.
"Behind you."
My stomach tightened.
I replayed the moment.
My charge.
The impact.
Victoria standing still.
Nothing else.
Nothing.
"And lines," Qiang continued.
"The moment you closed the distance, you were seconds away from being stabbed in the back."
The cold suddenly felt sharper.
I looked toward Victoria.
She was helping arrange cups beside the fire.
Relaxed.
Unbothered.
Completely ordinary.
That felt wrong.
"But I didn't sense qi."
"No."
"Or anything else."
"No."
That bothered me more.
Much more.
Cultivators sensed things.
Qi.
Intent.
Movement.
Danger.
Yet I had sensed nothing.
Not even a hint.
I looked at Victoria again.
Then remembered the chess game.
The questions.
The casual way she moved her pieces.
The complete absence of concern.
The same expression.
The same calmness.
Qiang seemed to arrive at the same conclusion.
"Like when she was playing chess earlier."
I nodded slowly.
The realization settled somewhere deep and uncomfortable.
For the first time all day, I wondered if I had completely misunderstood who the dangerous person in the room had been.
"What was that that stopped my sword?"
The question lingered unanswered.
The campfire crackled.
Someone laughed near the radio.
The pale winter sun remained hidden somewhere beyond the clouds, its presence known only through the dull light spread across the sky.
The air smelled of smoke and cold earth.
And while everyone else seemed content to wait, I sat quietly beside Qiang wondering what exactly we had gotten ourselves involved in.